FAUTAHUA VALLEYThe next interesting short drive from Papeete is to the Fautahua Valley, distance four miles. It is noted for delightful river scenery and tropic vegetation, and at the end of the valley is a beautiful waterfall. This charming valley, with its typical tropic scenery enclosed by towering mountains and resounding with the rippling, dashing music of a turbulent mountain stream and the babbling and murmuring of the many brooks and rivulets of pure crystal water which feed it, is well worth a visit. This valley was once densely populated, if we can judge from the abundance of imported fruit trees and the coffee shrub which now flourish in the forest unaided by the care of man, while, at the present time, the native huts are few and far apart. Wild arrowroot grows here in profusion, and a variety of exogenous shade trees have become an important component part of the primeval forest, rendered almost impenetrable by vines and a dense undergrowth. A carriage-road extends to Fashoda Bridge, well up in the mountains, beyond which it leads up the gorge, past a waterfall which leaps over a rocky rim, where the mountains join to the bed of the stream, six hundred feet below. In different places the romantic mountain road is spanned by graceful arches of branches of the pauru tree, ambitious to find on the opposite side of the road an independent existence from the parent tree. One of the large, quiet pools below the Fashoda Bridge, a favorite bathing-place for women and their daughters, has been made famous by the writings of Pierre Loti, a French author.From Fashoda Bridge a bridle path leads up a very steep incline to the French military post in the very heart of the mountains, six thousand feet above the level of the sea. It was here that the natives made their last stand in their war with France. A little beyond the fort rise the crags which compose "the Diadem," a conspicuous landmark in the mountains of Tahiti.The view from Fashoda Bridge in all directions is inspiring: at the end of the gorge the waterfall dashing over the volcanic rock, pulverized at many points in its descent into silvery spray; the tree-clad mountains on each side with their steeples of bare rock; beneath, the wild mountain stream, speeding to find rest in the quiet basin below; and all around, the rank vegetation which only the tropics under the most favorable conditions can grow, and above, the clear blue sky, brilliantly illuminated by the morning sun. As late as nine o'clock in the forenoon we found everything bathed in a heavy dew, which added much to the beauty and freshness of the incomparable scenery.Near the bridge, leading a pack-mule, we met a soldier on his way to the city for supplies for the small garrison in charge of the fort. Military duty at this lone isolated station must certainly prove monotonous, as from the bridge the only way to reach the fort is either on foot or mule-back. The quietude of this peaceful valley, at the time of our visit, was disturbed by a large force of native laborers who were laying the pipes for the new city waterworks.FISHERMEN OF PAPEETEFISHERMEN OF PAPEETE
FAUTAHUA VALLEYThe next interesting short drive from Papeete is to the Fautahua Valley, distance four miles. It is noted for delightful river scenery and tropic vegetation, and at the end of the valley is a beautiful waterfall. This charming valley, with its typical tropic scenery enclosed by towering mountains and resounding with the rippling, dashing music of a turbulent mountain stream and the babbling and murmuring of the many brooks and rivulets of pure crystal water which feed it, is well worth a visit. This valley was once densely populated, if we can judge from the abundance of imported fruit trees and the coffee shrub which now flourish in the forest unaided by the care of man, while, at the present time, the native huts are few and far apart. Wild arrowroot grows here in profusion, and a variety of exogenous shade trees have become an important component part of the primeval forest, rendered almost impenetrable by vines and a dense undergrowth. A carriage-road extends to Fashoda Bridge, well up in the mountains, beyond which it leads up the gorge, past a waterfall which leaps over a rocky rim, where the mountains join to the bed of the stream, six hundred feet below. In different places the romantic mountain road is spanned by graceful arches of branches of the pauru tree, ambitious to find on the opposite side of the road an independent existence from the parent tree. One of the large, quiet pools below the Fashoda Bridge, a favorite bathing-place for women and their daughters, has been made famous by the writings of Pierre Loti, a French author.From Fashoda Bridge a bridle path leads up a very steep incline to the French military post in the very heart of the mountains, six thousand feet above the level of the sea. It was here that the natives made their last stand in their war with France. A little beyond the fort rise the crags which compose "the Diadem," a conspicuous landmark in the mountains of Tahiti.The view from Fashoda Bridge in all directions is inspiring: at the end of the gorge the waterfall dashing over the volcanic rock, pulverized at many points in its descent into silvery spray; the tree-clad mountains on each side with their steeples of bare rock; beneath, the wild mountain stream, speeding to find rest in the quiet basin below; and all around, the rank vegetation which only the tropics under the most favorable conditions can grow, and above, the clear blue sky, brilliantly illuminated by the morning sun. As late as nine o'clock in the forenoon we found everything bathed in a heavy dew, which added much to the beauty and freshness of the incomparable scenery.Near the bridge, leading a pack-mule, we met a soldier on his way to the city for supplies for the small garrison in charge of the fort. Military duty at this lone isolated station must certainly prove monotonous, as from the bridge the only way to reach the fort is either on foot or mule-back. The quietude of this peaceful valley, at the time of our visit, was disturbed by a large force of native laborers who were laying the pipes for the new city waterworks.FISHERMEN OF PAPEETEFISHERMEN OF PAPEETE
The next interesting short drive from Papeete is to the Fautahua Valley, distance four miles. It is noted for delightful river scenery and tropic vegetation, and at the end of the valley is a beautiful waterfall. This charming valley, with its typical tropic scenery enclosed by towering mountains and resounding with the rippling, dashing music of a turbulent mountain stream and the babbling and murmuring of the many brooks and rivulets of pure crystal water which feed it, is well worth a visit. This valley was once densely populated, if we can judge from the abundance of imported fruit trees and the coffee shrub which now flourish in the forest unaided by the care of man, while, at the present time, the native huts are few and far apart. Wild arrowroot grows here in profusion, and a variety of exogenous shade trees have become an important component part of the primeval forest, rendered almost impenetrable by vines and a dense undergrowth. A carriage-road extends to Fashoda Bridge, well up in the mountains, beyond which it leads up the gorge, past a waterfall which leaps over a rocky rim, where the mountains join to the bed of the stream, six hundred feet below. In different places the romantic mountain road is spanned by graceful arches of branches of the pauru tree, ambitious to find on the opposite side of the road an independent existence from the parent tree. One of the large, quiet pools below the Fashoda Bridge, a favorite bathing-place for women and their daughters, has been made famous by the writings of Pierre Loti, a French author.
From Fashoda Bridge a bridle path leads up a very steep incline to the French military post in the very heart of the mountains, six thousand feet above the level of the sea. It was here that the natives made their last stand in their war with France. A little beyond the fort rise the crags which compose "the Diadem," a conspicuous landmark in the mountains of Tahiti.
The view from Fashoda Bridge in all directions is inspiring: at the end of the gorge the waterfall dashing over the volcanic rock, pulverized at many points in its descent into silvery spray; the tree-clad mountains on each side with their steeples of bare rock; beneath, the wild mountain stream, speeding to find rest in the quiet basin below; and all around, the rank vegetation which only the tropics under the most favorable conditions can grow, and above, the clear blue sky, brilliantly illuminated by the morning sun. As late as nine o'clock in the forenoon we found everything bathed in a heavy dew, which added much to the beauty and freshness of the incomparable scenery.
Near the bridge, leading a pack-mule, we met a soldier on his way to the city for supplies for the small garrison in charge of the fort. Military duty at this lone isolated station must certainly prove monotonous, as from the bridge the only way to reach the fort is either on foot or mule-back. The quietude of this peaceful valley, at the time of our visit, was disturbed by a large force of native laborers who were laying the pipes for the new city waterworks.
FISHERMEN OF PAPEETEFISHERMEN OF PAPEETE
FISHERMEN OF PAPEETE